by Megan Jacobs
Martinez opened her mouth as if to argue, but the Judge banged his gavel before she could say anything.
“We will reconvene at nine AM, tomorrow.” The Judge banged his gavel again, and nodded to himself, before getting to his feet and walking out of the courtroom.
I had twenty-four hours to come up with a miracle to win this case.
I looked over at Liam, and all the words that had passed between us played through my mind like some sort of sick movie that I couldn’t turn off.
I got to my feet and hurried out of the courtroom before he could see the tears prickling behind my eyes.
Chapter Four
The drive back to the hotel passed in a blur. I stumbled out of the car and barely remembered to lock it behind me as I made my way to the room where I usually found Mary.
I peeked in and my stomach flipped with anxiety when the usual cloud of white hair wasn’t there to greet me.
Had something happened to Mary? This was officially going down in the history books as the second worst day of my life.
I looked around frantically. She definitely wasn’t there, or anywhere else on the ground level of the hotel. She’s just gone out with friends, or something, I told myself, but that didn’t help to allay my panic. She couldn’t be gone. I needed her.
I walked back into the sunny room where I usually found my elderly friend and sank down into the rocking chair beside the one she usually occupied. I buried my head in my hands and closed my eyes against the tears I could feel coming.
“Are you all right, dear?” A soft, warm hand on the back of my neck accompanied the words. I recognized the voice immediately.
My head shot up, and the warm, familiar, yet regal face of Mary looked down at me. She was frowning slightly, but that seemingly unquenchable look of mischief glittered in her eyes.
“Mary,” I gasped in relief, and got to my feet. I pulled her towards me and gave her a gentle hug. She felt as fragile as a glass doll in my arms. I released her just as gently, and she leaned on me as she hobbled to her chair.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” She sat in her usual chair and pulled a brand new ball of wool out from somewhere.
“I haven’t had a very good day,” I sat next to her with a deep sigh, rubbing the back of my neck in a ghostly echo of Liam.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Something like that.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” She deftly attached the fresh wool and the reassuring clacking noise of the needles became the soundtrack to our conversation.
“Court didn’t go well, it was like deja vu. Martinez had something on Liam that he hadn’t told me about. Obviously, then Liam and I had a fight.” My voice caught on the lump of tears in the back of my throat that refused to dissolve. I started fiddling restlessly with my mother’s dolphin, running my thumbnail up and down its back. The movement soothed me somewhat, but I still felt like I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
“What happened with Liam?” Mary was immediately on the alert, the glitter in her eyes brightening.
“He kept something from me, and we argued, and I’m worried nothing will ever be the same again.” Saying the words out loud somehow made it true and the moment my words actually registered, the tears started flowing freely.
“Oh, my dear.” Mary reached out took my hands, comforting me with soothing sounds as I sobbed out the second worst day of my life.
I hadn’t cried since my parents died. Why on earth was I sobbing like a baby over a silly argument with Liam?
“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” I choked out. “I know better than to let my guard down.”
“Alyssa, honey.” Mary pulled back, looking me firmly in the eye. “Letting your guard down isn’t your downfall – it’s your strength.”
But feeling how badly my heart was broken, I wasn’t so sure.
*~*~*~*~*
I guess being suspicious runs in the family.
What on earth had he meant?
I guess being suspicious runs in the family.
I groaned out loud as his words echoed in my head for the hundredth time in the past hour. I stared down at the law book I was reading without seeing the words. My head felt like it was full of cotton wool, and my nose hadn’t stopped running since I managed to rein in my tears and actually talk with Mary earlier.
I glanced over at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. It was one in the morning, and I was no closer to finding an answer to the disaster that happened in court today than I was when I started at six in the evening. I blinked tiredly, my eyeballs like sandpaper, and let my head thump into my folded arms.
I guess being suspicious runs in the family.
Shut up, Liam , I thought fiercely to myself. If I were to win this case, all thoughts and feelings for that particular handyman had to be banished from my mind. I’d had my cry, and that was it. It was time to move on.
Figuring that a coffee would probably help clear my head, I lifted my head and walked into the kitchenette. I flicked the switch on the ancient machine without a second thought. It burbled to life as I poured in the water and the coffee grounds. As I stood there waiting for the liquid to percolate, I went over the events of the day yet again.
Everything had started well. Sure, Liam had been a little nervous, but who wasn’t at their first court case? He was an easy client to defend, it all came effortlessly. And then Martinez came and ruined everything, with that yellow envelope of death. I had to beat her. I had to beat her.
The sound of the coffee machine wheezing its dying breath as it dripped the last few drops of liquid into the pot brought me back to reality. I took a mug from one of the cupboards and poured some of the coffee into it. I winced as I swallowed the first sip; it was bitter and gritty, nothing like the Clearwater Cafe’s, but it would keep me awake.
I walked back over to the desk and sat down. Staring down at the pages in front of me with a gaze that could set fire to anything flammable wasn’t helping the answer come to me. I groaned and ran my fingers through my hair.
In the dim light coming from the desk lamp, a piece of paper caught my eye. All the evidence Liam and I had painstakingly collected against De La Croix was scattered under the law books I had borrowed from a random law student I’d walked past at the courthouse.
I pulled the page from under Civil Litigation and scanned the words quickly. It was one of the threatening letters that had been sent to Liam. I was absolutely sure, with every fiber of my being that De La Croix had sent them to him.
WE ARE
WATCHING
YOU
When I had first looked at the page, I’d assumed that it had been printed from a computer. As I studied it with narrowed eyes, the words seemed to jump off the page at me. There were tiny spots of ink around the ’W’s. That wasn’t normal on a laser printer. It was intriguing, no doubt about it, but it didn’t seem relevant to this very moment.
Seeing the blackmail letter, however, gave me an idea. It was an angle to work to get to De La Croix.
I just had to find a way to exploit it.
*~*~*~*~*
I woke up with a start as the buzzing of my alarm clock filtered through my senses. Lifting my head, I quickly realized that I had fallen asleep on the open books. I rolled my head and groaned at the ache in my neck. Today probably wasn’t going to be much better than yesterday, I could feel it.
I got up and rubbed the back of my neck as I made my way to the bathroom. I was reluctant to look in the mirror, but I couldn’t help taking a peek. The woman who stared back at me was not the same one who had come from New York. Back home, I saw a woman, standing tall and proud, who never let anyone get near enough to her for the inevitable moment of hurt.
When I looked in the mirror now, all I could see was my red rimmed eyes, stringy hair, smudged makeup, and crumpled clothes. I looked like I’d had a rough night, which, in a way, was true. I’d let someone get to me, and it was probably one of the stupidest mistak
es I’d ever made in my life.
I sighed and scrubbed my hands over my face, before looking away. I reached into the shower cubicle that wasn’t much bigger than a postage stamp and twisted the hot faucet until the shower head coughed like a dying man and spat out some lukewarm water. It would have to do.
I had a duty to perform. Time to get the day started, sooner rather than later.
*~*~*~*~*
Getting ready took longer than I expected. When I arrived at the courthouse and hurried through the courtroom doors, everyone had already settled in their seats. Liam was sitting at the same table as yesterday, apparently finding a knot on the wooden surface more interesting than greeting me. Martinez gave me the slow up-down look the popular girls gave me in high school, before smirking and looking away.
I tugged self-consciously at the bottom of my jacket and then stopped short. Who am I kidding? I took my seat beside my client. Because that’s all Liam was to me now. A client. My heart panged at that realization and I internally gathered myself. No emotions. There would be nothing more to compromise this case further.
“All rise,” The court officer’s voice echoed around the chamber like Liam’s had yesterday during our argument, and I winced.
“You may be seated,” the Judge said. “Now, I have made my decision about this case, but before I announce it, is there anything more either of you want to say?” He looked at Martinez and me over the top of his glasses in turn.
“No thank you, Your Honor.” Martinez’s voice was cool and confident, and I hated her more than seemed possible in that moment.
“I’d like to appeal again.” My voice wasn’t as confident as Martinez’s, but at least it didn’t wobble like I thought it would.
The Judge sighed tiredly. “I assume you have some new evidence?”
“I can link Felicia De La Croix to the threatening letters that have been anonymously sent to my client for months.”
At that, De La Croix immediately started whispering in her lawyer’s ear, and Liam’s head shot up to finally, finally, look at me.
“Proceed.” The Judge waved his hand at me, and I nodded.
“These letters,” I started, before walking over to our table and picking up two sheets of paper, “have been sent to Liam Carter on a regular basis, at two-week intervals to be exact, with no way to track who sent them.”
I gave the first page to Martinez with as much disgust I could muster, before walking forward and handing the second to the Judge.
“I have a way to... to...” I trailed off as I caught Liam’s eye, and the feeling of warmth only he could elicit in me blossomed in my chest. I smiled slightly at him, and he stared back at me, stone faced.
“To, what, Miss Waterstone?” the Judge’s voice prompted me from behind.
“To link those letters to Miss Martinez’s client.” My voice was soft and nearly faded out at the end of the sentence. Liam’s gaze was boring a hole into the back of my head, and I couldn’t focus properly. Everything that happened yesterday came flooding back, and I nearly doubled over at the intensity of it all.
“Objection!” I heard dimly from Martinez’s table. “Clearly this is just a way to stall, Your Honor.”
I guess being suspicious runs in the family.
Liam’s voice boomed in my head, and his gaze was drilling into my soul. I couldn’t breathe, and I felt too cold and too hot at the same time.
“Miss Waterstone, do you have anything to add?” The Judge’s voice was buzzing like a fly in my ear, and I shook my head to clear it away. “That does it. Miss Martinez, I am inclined to agree with you. This case is going to trial.”
The echo of the gavel banging through the courtroom brought me back to my senses, and I felt my stomach swoop sickeningly in a loop-the-loop.
I’d lost.
Chapter Five
I walked out of the courtroom in a daze. I still couldn’t believe I’d lost, that I’d let my emotions get to me and let Martinez steamroller over me, yet again.
I felt a hand on my elbow and followed along blindly as I was dragged into an empty room.
“What the hell was that?” Liam’s hiss echoed like a snake’s in my ear.
“I... lost. Again,” I murmured faintly.
“From what I could see, it wasn’t very hard to beat you.”
I looked up and saw angry blue eyes staring down at me. Liam. One half of me wanted to throw my arms around him and sob into his chest and the other half wanted to get angry and shout at him.
“Martinez is an entirely different kettle of fish,” I defended myself hotly. Apparently the angry half of me had won.
“Not when you space out halfway through your appeal, she’s not.” His eyebrows knitted down over his eyes in an angry black caterpillar.
“I got distracted,” I mumbled, and it sounded lame, even to me.
“Obviously.” He was watching me through narrowed eyes, clearly waiting for an explanation.
All of a sudden, the fact that I was talking to Liam sunk in, and I demanded an answer to the question that had been plaguing me for a day and a half.
“What did you mean ‘suspicion runs in the family’?”
“What does that matter?” Liam stared at me in bewilderment, before he started getting angry. “You vowed this case wasn’t going to go to trial. Last I looked, the Judge just ruled that we’re back in that damned courtroom next week.”
I folded my arms over my chest defensively. “Don’t deflect,” I snapped. “Tell me what you meant.”
Liam stared at me incredulously. “You really don’t care, do you.” It wasn’t a question; it was a defeated realization.
“Don’t care about what?”
“Oh my goodness.” He paced a few steps away from me and ran his hand through his hair. An incredulous laugh escaped his lips, making him sound like someone who’d recently hopped the fence of the insane asylum. “You really don’t get it.”
I stared.
“You care more about the case.” His shoulders slumped, and he refused to look at me.
“Yes, I’ve cared about it right from the start.” My tone of voice implied the obvious.
“But I thought...” He trailed off and scrubbed the back of his neck with his hand. He was uncomfortable about something, but what was it? I’d been away from him for a day and a half, and I was finding it harder to read him than I had when I’d first met him.
“You thought?” I prompted impatiently. I really had to get back to my hotel room and start the process for damage control after the train wreck that happened a few minutes ago.
“I thought maybe the case wasn’t all that mattered.”
That stumped me for a few seconds, and my mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. “That’s all that’s mattered since you told me about it. That, and fixing the house up and going back to New York.” My heart panged uncomfortably at the thought of leaving Clearwater Bay, leaving behind Mary and Liam, but I had a life in the city. Staying at the coast forever was a pipe dream. Sure, I’d entertained the idea, but that’s all it was. An idea.
I looked over at Liam while those thoughts ran through my head. I’ve never seen a look of raw pain on a man’s face before, and I hoped to never see it again.
“I can’t believe it.” He stared at me but not seeing me. “All you care about is the cases. Never mind you have someone who might have feelings for you. No, you’d rather be cold and indifferent, Miss-Nothing-Ever-Gets-To-Me.”
“Hazard of the job. I can’t let anything get to me, otherwise I wouldn’t be one of the best lawyers in New York.” I felt a pang of guilt at the memory of the disaster in the courtroom. “I make mistakes, I’m only human, but I’m the best. And I didn’t get to be the best by letting things get to me.”
That same, crazy, incredulous laugh bubbled out of his chest. “Oh, you’re human, are you? You’re acting like a damn robot.”
I stepped away from him, my mouth in an O of horror. This was all becoming too much again.
<
br /> “Get out,” I said hotly. “Get out, now.” I pointed to the door, my voice trembling with anger.
“All I can say,” he said as he walked past. “Is that it’s a sad life, living from case to case. I thought we had something, Alyssa. I guess I was wrong.”
His words barely registered before he was walking out the room. I stared at his slumped shoulders as he walked out of my life, forever.
*~*~*~*~*
I stumbled into my hotel room, as if in a daze, and stared at the bed without seeing it. Then I walked over to the cupboard, opened the door, and took out my suitcase. I dumped the case on the bed, and started packing my clothes into it, my movements robotic.
Robotic.
I couldn’t believe Liam had called me a robot. A robot.
I huffed an incredulous laugh, and aggressively folded a shirt, stuffing it angrily in the suitcase.
The laugh slowly morphed into sobs, and I ended up sitting on the edge of the bed, my teary vision blurring my surroundings into a watercolor painting.
Why had I let myself have any sort of feelings for the man. Why hadn’t I just kept it professional? Why had I gone against my better judgment?
I stared down at my hands and blinked rapidly. My mind, inexplicably, drifted to Grace, as it did quite often in the days before Liam had been more than just the handyman.
I empathized with her in this moment more than I ever had since I’d known she’d existed. She’d had the right idea, keeping to herself, distancing herself from humanity. I wished I could do that, but an octogenarian spinster becoming a hermit was more acceptable than a middle-aged, successful lawyer doing the same.
My thoughts slowly drifted from admiring Grace, to thinking about my parents, and without realizing it, my hand came up to hold the dolphin around my neck. Look at what happened to them, falling in love, having a child, dying, and leaving her an orphan with no small amount of baggage. No, being alone was the right course of action, I’d never been more certain of it before.
